126 The Public Health. [Jan., 
parliament, bent on opposing every advantage to its neighbours, on 
the ground that it would injure itself. It is to break up this system 
that Mr. J. 8. Mill brought forward a measure for the Reform of 
the Municipal Government of the Metropolis. It is not necessary 
that we should here enter into any details of this measure. We 
must regard it as a means to an end. The concentration of 
authority which he proposes in this bill, and the administrative 
power which it gives to bodies having larger powers and wider 
administrative districts than at present exist in London, would un- 
doubtedly be the means of effecting an immense amount of benefit. 
This excellent measure has been opposed by nearly every vestry in 
London. The great excuse for opposition has been that it would 
increase the expense of the Local Government of the Metropolis. 
This is regarded as a sufficient ground for opposition to any mea- 
sure. The cry of expense is raised against any measure, whatever 
may be its promise of prospective gain. The fact is, that when a 
thoroughly careful examination is made of Mr. Mill’s bill, it will 
be found that a great economy will be ultimately effected. Instead 
of the multitude of officers with small salaries, which are now the 
burdens of London parishes, a few effective officers with larger 
salaries will be appointed. or instance, instead of a large number 
of medical officers of health, half of whom are confessedly paid for 
doing nothing, there would be five or six men appointed, who 
would attend to their duties, and not be allowed to hold sinecures, 
as is at present the case. In the interests of public health we advo- 
cate this measure. As an instance of how the present vestries treat 
their medical officers, we may give a report of what occurred in the 
Vestry of St. James’s, Westminster, on the 5th of December last, 
when the medical officer of health, calling attention to the deaths 
. from typhoid fever among the wealthy inhabitants of that parish, 
said, “Several cases have come under my notice where life has been 
lost amongst this class. No one should take a house without a 
certificate of the drains being properly laid; and bricklayers and 
builders, neglecting their duties in this respect, should be liable to 
prosecution and fine.” The very idea of a man being prosecuted 
for killing his neighbours in this way was ridiculed ; and the report 
in the ‘Marylebone Mercury’ of the 7th of December, says “The 
reading of this passage was received with cries of ‘Oh, and laugh- 
ter.” There can be no question that in order that the duties of 
the medical officer of health should be carried out efficiently, his 
appointment should be independent of such bodies as the present 
vestries of London. No effectual sanitary measures can be carried 
out in many districts of London till the medical officer of health is 
made independent of the influence which the vestry is now capable 
of exercising over him. : 
The question of the position and duties of the Medical Officer of 
